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Bailey zaps Giants on no-no; Angels trump Cards

CINCINNATI (AP) — Homer Bailey threw his second no-hitter in 10 months and the first in the majors this season, pitching the Cincinnati Reds to a 3-0 victory over the slumping San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.

Bailey (5-6) became the third Reds pitcher with more than one no-hitter, joining Jim Maloney and Johnny Vander Meer — still the only big leaguer to toss two in a row. Bailey beat the Pirates 1-0 in Pittsburgh last Sept. 28 and got another 17 starts later.

The last pitcher to throw one no-hitter and then another before anyone else in the majors accomplished the feat was Hall of Famer Nolan Ryan, according to STATS. Baseball’s career strikeout king did it for the California Angels on Sept. 28, 1974, against Minnesota, and June 1, 1975, vs. Baltimore.

Bailey walked Gregor Blanco leading off the seventh, the only Giants batter to reach base. First baseman Joey Votto alertly threw out Blanco as he tried to advance from second to third on a soft one-hopper that otherwise could have become an infield single for Buster Posey.

With 27,509 fans on their feet chanting “Homer! Homer!” Bailey finished it off in the ninth. He jumped to glove Brandon Crawford’s high comebacker, struck out Tony Abreu and retired Blanco on a grounder to third baseman Todd Frazier.

Angels 5, Cardinals 1

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) — Jered Weaver earned his second win of an injury-plagued season with help from a five-run second inning, and Los Angeles beat St. Louis to extend its win streak to seven.

Three-time NL MVP Albert Pujols played his first game against his former club and was 0 for 3 with two strikeouts and a walk as the designated hitter, while Mark Trumbo started at first base.

Weaver (2-4) allowed a run, six hits and no walks over seven innings. He struck out five in his ninth start of the year, working with runners on base in every inning but the seventh.

Lance Lynn (10-3) gave up five runs and nine hits in six innings, striking out eight. The 26-year-old right-hander has dropped back-to-back outings for the first time in 1½ big league seasons.

Mariners 9, Rangers 2

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) — Kendrys Morales homered twice and tied a career high with six RBIs to lead Seattle past Texas.

Morales had a solo home run in the first and a three-run shot in the fifth off rookie Justin Grimm. The switch-hitter added a two-run single in the sixth.

Joe Saunders (6-8) won for the first time in eight regular-season starts at Rangers Ballpark. The left-hander allowed two runs — one earned — and struck out five in 6 2-3 innings.

Seattle’s Raul Ibanez, who hit 10 homers in June, had a solo shot for his 20th homer of the season. Grimm (7-6) gave up six runs and seven hits in four innings.

Indians 6, Royals 5

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Carlos Santana and Asdrubal Cabrera each drove in a pair of runs, and Cleveland took advantage of some wild pitching to beat Kansas City.

Mark Reynolds and Jason Giambi also drove in runs for the Indians, who capitalized on eight walks by Royals starter Luis Mendoza and the Royals’ bullpen to win their fifth straight game.

Cody Allen (3-0) earned the win in relief for Cleveland, while Chris Perez survived putting two aboard in the ninth for his eighth save of the season.

Royals reliever Tim Collins (2-3) walked the only two batters he faced in the seventh, Aaron Crow walked another to load the bases and Santana came through with a go-ahead sacrifice fly.

Rays 8, Astros 0

HOUSTON (AP) — David Price pitched three-hit ball for seven innings in his return from the disabled list and Desmond Jennings homered and drove in four runs as Tampa Bay beat Houston.

Price (2-4) had missed the last 44 games with a left triceps strain in his first-ever stint on the DL. But he showed no signs of rust, allowing a season-low for hits with 10 strikeouts.

Three relievers combined to finish the four-hitter, a night after the Rays two-hit the Astros.

Jennings, who finished with three hits, had a two-run single in the fourth to make it 3-0 and his two-run homer in the sixth pushed the lead to five runs.

Erik Bedard (3-4) yielded six hits and four runs with a season-high six walks in 5 1-3 innings.

Dodgers 8, Rockies 0

DENVER (AP) — Clayton Kershaw tossed a four-hitter for his second shutout of the season and rookie sensation Yasiel Puig had three more hits, including a solo homer, to lead the Dodgers to a win over the Rockies.

The 22-year-old Puig also added a double and a single to raise his average to .443 this season.

Kershaw (7-5) kept the Rockies off balance all night, even top hitter Michael Cuddyer, who had his franchise-record 27-game hitting streak halted after going hitless in four plate appearances. Cuddyer flied out to Puig in right to end the game.

The hard-throwing Kershaw had eight strikeouts and walked none. He only allowed one runner to get to second all evening.

Roy Oswalt (0-3) was roughed up in his first start at Coors Field this season. He allowed five runs and nine hits in five innings.

Tigers 7, Blue Jays 6

TORONTO (AP) — Torii Hunter drove in the tiebreaking run with a two-out infield single in the eighth inning and the Detroit Tigers rallied from a 4-0 deficit to beat the Toronto Blue Jays 7-6 on Tuesday night.

Hunter had four singles and Miguel Cabrera hit a three-run home run, his 26th, as the Tigers snapped a three-game losing streak.

Colby Rasmus homered and drove in four runs for the Blue Jays, who failed to extend their seven-game home winning streak.

The White Sox ended a five-game skid and avoided falling a season-high 16 games below .500.

Danks (2-5) earned his first win since June 8 against Oakland, pitching seven-plus innings and allowing two runs and six hits while striking out four. Following that win against the Athletics, Danks had been winless in three starts while allowing 13 earned runs.

Addison Reed pitched a scoreless ninth for his 22nd save in 26 attempts.

Jason Hammel (7-5) pitched seven innings and gave up five runs and nine hits for the Orioles.

Yankees 7, Twins 3

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Robinson Cano homered for the third straight game and Phil Hughes gave up one run on six hits in seven innings, lifting New York over Minnesota.

Cano followed up a two-homer performance Monday by going 2 for 4 with three RBIs and Alberto Gonzalez had two hits and three RBIs as well for the Yankees. New York has broken out for 17 runs in the first two games of the series to snap a five-game skid.

Athletics 8, Cubs 7

OAKLAND, Calif. (AP) — Derek Norris hit a three-run homer with two outs in the eighth inning and Oakland rallied to beat Chicago and regain the AL West lead.

Norris sent the 2-2 pitch from James Russell (1-2) over the left-center field wall for his fourth home run this season. Josh Donaldson and Chris Young also homered to put the A’s a half-game ahead of Texas, which lost 9-2 at Seattle.

Red Sox 4, Padres 1

BOSTON (AP) — Brandon Snyder hit a bases-loaded double and John Lackey struck out six over eight strong innings for Boston in a win over slumping San Diego.

Lackey (6-5) scattered six hits and walked one while moving above .500 for the first time since late in 2011. The only run Lackey allowed was a solo homer by Jesus Guzman in the seventh.

Phillies slugger Ryan Howard ended an 0-for-22 slump — 12 strikeouts — with an RBI single in a three-run sixth to open the scoring. Howard and Michael Young each had two hits for Philadelphia, which scored all of its runs against Pirates rookie spot starter Brandon Cumpton (0-1).

Brewers 4, Nationals 0

WASHINGTON (AP) — Stephen Strasburg had hitters flailing at curveballs for seven scoreless innings, getting all eight of his strikeouts with the same pitch in a magnificent outing that was wasted when the Brewers scored off the Nationals bullpen.

Strasburg put on a gem of performance that dropped his ERA to 2.24 and nearly overshadowed the game’s actual outcome. Once again, the Nationals’ bats abandoned him, and Juan Francisco’s two-run double in the eighth started a scoring spree off Drew Storen (2-2) as the Brewers snapped a six-game losing streak.

Martin Maldonado knocked in Francisco with a warning track fly ball that left fielder Bryce Harper dropped — it was nevertheless ruled a double — and scored on Jeff Bianchi’s groundball single that got through the infield only because Maldonado was trying to steal third with an absurd jump off Storen.

Braves 11, Marlins 3

ATLANTA (AP) — Chris Johnson’s two-run, go-ahead double was the big hit in a four-run sixth inning that helped the Braves to a win over the Marlins.

The Braves set a season high with 16 hits and matched their high for runs.

The game was tied at 3 before the Braves opened the sixth with three straight hits off Dan Jennings (0-1), loading the bases. Ryan Webb struck out Dan Uggla and Reed Johnson before Chris Johnson gave Atlanta the lead with his double past first baseman Logan Morrison.

Mets 9, Diamondbacks 1

NEW YORK (AP) — Jeremy Hefner and the Mets handed Patrick Corbin his first loss, breaking away from the Diamondbacks on a drizzly night and sending the NL West leaders to their season-worst fifth straight defeat.

as the Diamondbacks continued a most curious streak — their starting pitchers are 0-11 in 24 games since June 5. Arizona fell to 1-7 on its road trip after two straight losses to begin this four-game visit to Citi Field.